Published on Sep 15, 2014
PROVIDED BY CNNNEXT.COM
One of the key questions regarding the expansion the ISIL Takfiri militants in Syria and Iraq has been their finances.
Fresh reports have now revealed that certain European countries have been buying oil from the terrorist group.
In a briefing to the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, the EU Ambassador to Iraq, Jana Hybaskova, said that some European countries have purchased crude from the ISIL.
She didn't mention any specific country, but reports suggest that Turkey has been buying and transporting oil from both the ISIL and the Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front in Syria.
The ISIL reportedly controls eleven oil fields in northern Iraq as well as Syria’s Raqqa province.
US intelligence officials estimate that the Takfiri militants earn more than three-million dollars a day from oil profits, theft, human trafficking and ransom.
They say the militants sell oil and other products via established networks in Turkey, Jordan and Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
